2003 Melbourne Auto Show Page 2

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March 9, 2003

When GM product czar
Bob Lutz signed off poste haste on the Pontiac GTO project more than one year
ago, he also got to drive the regular Utility, and emerged grinning. He
pronounced it ideal for Chevrolet —
though they didn’t know that then. The tray-back Ute could also find
a niche in any potential export order.

Holden’s associated high-performance
constructor Holden Special Vehicles, an arm’s-length tuning house that builds
super-fast Commodore, Monaro and Ute variants also has its own One Tonner, the
Maloo.

The Maloo Ute has a 260kW Gen
III fitted under its snout with a Jarrah timber load bed that can carry a
substantial payload, polished sport bars and 19-inch alloy wheels. Performance
will be shattering.

Holden also showed its pre-production
Ute-derived Panel Van. Essentially a fibreglass canopy atop a regular ute, this
is powered by a 235-kW version of the Corvette’s 5.7-liter Gen
III.

Jumping into the car-derived Ute
market for the first time was Toyota Australia, fronting the show with perhaps
the most significant display of its in-house design and build talents in the
shape of the X-Runner (pronounced Cross-runner).

Toyota Australia is pitching TMC for
its own research and development centre because it too has vast pans to supply
Camry, Avalon and 4WD Highlander or derivatives to lucrative Middle Eastern and
Southern Hemisphere markets.

Toyota is flexing its styling muscles
to try to win approval for the Avalon redesign because it doesn’t want the U.S.
model (no offence, guys).

The X-Runner Ute Toyota dreamed up
is built on a 150mm stretch of the Avalon platform and fitted with the
all-wheel drive running gear of the defunct Lexus RX300. It also boasts a
supercharged 3.0-liter V-6, a production version of which Toyota executives would like
to bolt under the hood of a special sporty Camry,
soonest.

The rear tray sits on a specially
constructed space frame engineered in Melbourne, while the Dunlop tires have a
laser-cut tread pattern in the form of the Toyota
logo.

The swing out tailgate contains a
cubby for helmets, while side lockers can hold biker Lycra and the load bed
swallows two mountain bikes.

X-Runner is an expression of the
enthusiasm of the Toyota team and its desire to tap into the unique Aussie
lifestyle.

Toyota Australia presently builds
global market products (Camry, Avalon) for domestic and export markets but TMCA
president, Ken Asano said it was important for Toyota Australia to “undertake
projects that enhance our capabilities and our ability to be
innovative”.

That’s Toyota speak for “Holden and
Ford are heading into the SUV market and we don’t want to be left
behind”.

Mitsubishi Motors Australia Ltd,
manufacturers of the American market Diamante sedan (Magna in Australia)
displayed its just launched all-wheel drive variant at the show.

Engineered in Australia, the Magna
AWD is a canny local re-engineering job (the Japan-sourced AWD kit wouldn’t
easily mate to the 3.5-liter V-6). MMAL says it has no plans to engineer the AWD
car for left-hand drive applications, now.

A substantial sheetmetal facelift
model, bearing the new ‘face’ of Mitsubishi as prescribed by chief designer
Olivier Boulay in Tokyo, will be revealed mid-year, before debuting as a 2004
model in the U.S. this fall.

Among the importers strutting their
stuff at Melbourne, GM Daewoo introduced the Lacetti (Nubira replacement)
and Kalos (Lanos replacement) as well as a concept car dubbed
Flex. GM Daewoo in Australia has a 50 percent market collapse to reverse
starting with the launch of the new product, but thanks to substantial Holden
ownership and executive involvement, GM Daewoo in Australia should be able to
springboard to some short-term success.